Hyderabad: Making it clear that the matrimonial website Shaadi.com cannot evade responsibility for the frauds perpetrated on innocent match-seekers by conmen using its official space and classified paid categories within the website, Justice N Tukaramji of the Telangana high court on Thursday refused to quash the first investigation report (FIR) booked against its director Anupam Mittal and two other officials working with him.
The Jubilee Hills police booked a case against them after a doctor lodged a complaint against a fraudster, who reportedly collected Rs 10 lakh from her through the Shaadi.com web portal and some of the intermediaries working for the matchmaker website.
The judge directed the director of the company, Anupam, and his staff Satish Nanaiah and Vignesh, to appear before the police and answer their queries.
Brushing aside the website management’s argument that their platform was similar to an aggregator like Uber, and that they had no control over who uses it, additional public prosecutor V Jitender said the website acted in an “irresponsible and escapist way” because it is charging hefty fees from the match-seekers for connecting premium-class people and is providing details of individuals through a password protected route.
“The portal is using these protected methods only to ensure that it gets premium fees, but not using the same to offer verified profiles,” the court said.
The fraudster who cheated the woman doctor is a convicted person who duped more than a dozen women so far. His name is Jogada Vamsi Krishna, but in his profile, he listed his name as Cherukuri Harsha on the website, and used a photo of an MLA from Yanam as his profile picture. He promised the doctor that he would marry her. Claiming that his mother lived in the United States, and that his bank accounts were frozen locally, he collected nearly Rs 11 lakh from the doctor.
As time passed, the woman grew suspicious of the man’s behaviour and asked him to return her money. He then reportedly began threatening her, saying that he would post her morphed pictures on the internet, and also threatened to kill her family members. She then lodged a police complaint, after which Vamsikrishna alias Cherukuri Harsha was arrested. He is now in judicial remand.
Hearing both sides, the judge agreed with the argument of the public prosecutor and directed the police to serve notices on the website director and his staff. The accused were directed to appear before the police and cooperate with the investigation.
